The present invention relates to a device for the collection of fuel operating in conjunction with a surface tension fuel tank of a space vehicle and including a collecting container mde of Ti to which are connected thin fine mash metal strainers or sieves.
Space vehicles such as satellites use attitude control devices particularly thrust producing devices to which fuel is fed from a storage tank by means of a pressurized gas. It is important to avoid any inclusion of the gas and insertion into the fuel or the thrust producing device since such gas inclusion may interfere with proper operation. Bearing in mind that in outer space one cannot rely on the force of gravity the separation of gas from liquid fuel has in the past been obtained by means of a membrane made of a synthetic material. While functioning in principle it is however not possible to use such membranes if the fuel is to some extent chemically aggressive; even if the aggression is of a minor nature destruction of a very thin membrane is almost inevitable and merely a matter of time.
It has been proposed in accordance with German printed patent application No. 31 46 262 to use surface tension fuel tanks wherein the separation of the fuel moving pressurized gas from the fuel itself obtains through utilization of surface tensions. The tanks made here are made of Ti but that poses in turn a problem of the compatibility of the material, particularly if steel Ti alloys are used; they are regarded as technologically difficult. Thin fine mesh strainers or sieves for these fuel collecting containers are made of very thin steel wires. This is so because Ti wires cannot be made smaller than 40 micrometers in diameter but such small and smaller dimensions are in fact needed. Therefore these steel compounds were in the past made by explosion plating. This is a very expensive method and is really not applicable to very light compounds which is a general requirement for space vehicles.